Teacher guide Making a difference in reading skills: K-2 students in inner-New York City schools

TLF ID S7075

This teacher resource describes a 2008-09 research project into the effectiveness of the AWARD reading strategy carried out in four low socioeconomic schools in inner-New York City. It involved 1042 students, 514 students in the control group and 528 students in the experimental group, in 42 F-2 classes. The resource is organised in nine sections: Summary, Target student group, Method, Results, Lessons learned, Next steps, Research base, Further reading and links, and Contacts. It describes AWARD Reading K-3; the language backgrounds of the students involved; the three objectives of the research; the research findings; and their relevance for Australian schools.

Tags: aust




Educational details

Educational value
  • This is a valuable resource for primary schools who serve inner-city communities with low socioeconomic status and a diverse range of ethnic, cultural and language backgrounds and who are intent on improving their students' reading. The year-long research project showed that AWARD Reading increased the literacy skills of students in the early years of schooling regardless of the children's ethnicity, entrance reading level or gender, and regardless of whether the program was delivered as the main literacy program, as an intervention program in class or in a withdrawal situation, or as an after-school program.
  • The research findings are particularly useful in that they identify two important factors contributing to the success of AWARD Reading in New York and by extension to the potential success of its equivalent in Australian schools - Sunshine Books and Sunshine Online. Firstly, the program's blend of technology and print created a high level of student interest that carried over into print experiences, whether in small-group or independent literacy activities. Secondly, the program's scaffolded instruction provided a framework for students to learn crucial literacy skills and opportunities to apply and practise those skills.
Year level

F; 1; 2

Learning area
  • English

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: Commonwealth of Australia
  • Organization: Commonwealth of Australia
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.australia.gov.au
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Generic
Learning Resource Type
  • Online
  • Text
Rights
  • © 2014 Commonwealth of Australia, unless otherwise indicated. This material is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike licence (CC BY-SA 3.0 AU) unless otherwise indicated. You may distribute, remix and build upon this material, provided that you include the acknowledgement '© Commonwealth of Australia 2014' and license under the same terms any new creations you have based on the material.